Tag: Civic engagement

Nearly 700,000 people live in Washington. We work, raise our children, serve in the armed forces, and pay federal taxes at a higher rate per person than residents of any state. Not one of us can cast a vote that counts in Congress. How did the capital of a self-governing nation come to deny self-government to the people who live in it? The answer runs through the city's history. When Black Washingtonians gained political power in 1867, Congress abolished the city's elected government and handed control to three presidential appointees. Direct federal rule lasted a century.

Morehouse graduate and Omega Psi Phi brother Noah McQueen is turning service into a national movement. His organization, Lifting Our Voices, has fed over 125,000 families, mobilized volunteers, and created service chapters on campuses nationwide.